Researchers Invent Reusable Nanopatterning Process

To form their nanoscale patterns, Penn researchers created a layer of PDMS gel on a grid of silicon pillars, 1 µm in diameter, each spaced 2 µm apart. In order to create the “diamond plate” pattern they used, the group harnessed known properties of these gels to swell while wetted by a solvent. The circular pores created in the material eventually deform elliptically along the same axis due to elastic interaction while the polymer is swelled under the influence of the solvent.